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Humanist Union Navy
__TOC__ Summary "No modern war between nations can be won without a star navy." -Roland Stein The Humanist Union Navy - officially the Federal Navy - consists of first-line military vessels intended for combat or the support of combat. The Federal Navy answers to to the Office of the Navy, the Department of War, and the Coordinator himself; civil defense fleets and their officers have no standing whatsoever in the naval command structure. Humanist naval doctrine currently favors larger warships supported by light destroyers and corvettes for mopping up enemy fighter/bomber assets; the navy employs no war carriers. Naval ships are tagged with "FNS" - "Federal Naval Ship," civil defense vessels with "CDS" - "Civil Defense Ship," and civilian vessels with "CS" - "Civil Ship." Warships are undecorated save the seal of the Humanist Union and the navy, usually emblazoned near the nose of the vessel. Civil Defense Force crews tend to be of a somewhat less professional caliber than military crews, and are often populated with individuals with an interest in space but an attachment to home unsuiting for naval life. The Union's warships are thickly-armored, extremely rugged, and feature several levels of redundant systems. While they lack the advanced technologies found on some first galaxy warships, Union vessels are able to continue operation even resources for maintence are scarce and damage is considerable, a lesson learned from the ICR's civil war. Organization See Humanist Union Navy Organization. Weaponry and Equipment Missiles Guided missiles are the primary long-range weapon utilized by Union vessels in space combat. Stored in large banks, they overwhelm point defense measures, armor, and shields with sheer weight of fire, durability, and projectile velocity. Like many space-borne missile systems, the Union utilizes "kinetic kill" platforms that obviate the need for a warhead through sheer velocity as their main model. These difficult-to-detect projectiles are actually launched in "hybrid" launchers similar to small railguns and only fire their drives to reorient and upon terminal acceleration, when impact is all but guaranteed. In medium and close-range combat, Union warships use high-yield nuclear missiles with specially-designed warheads. These platforms have more firepower than their kinetic-kill counterparts, but are also more expensive, more hazardous to manufacture and store, and easier to detect and intercept. The Union utilizes missiles in point defense and orbital bombardment as well - short-range micro-nukes are powerful enough to overwhelm fightercraft and attacking missiles and can seed from a larger carrier missile for greater range, and similarly bombardment models can be single or multi-warhead affairs. Mass Drivers Mass drivers are rapid-fire electrical weapons that accelerate conductive slugs at tremendous speeds. Due to their unguided nature and the incredible ranges space combat usually occurs at, they aren't well-suited for long range combat but instead come into their own at medium or close range, where enemy ships are easier to predict and evasive maneuvering is more difficult. Their rapid-fire nature and simple, compact ammo make them extremely effective in such circumstances. Larger mass drivers, usually mounted along a considerable length of the ship's spine, fire larger projectiles at higher speeds and, consequently, at greater ranges. Firepower is tremendous, but so is power consumption and stress on the rails - rate of fire is necessarily quite slow on these "skull-crackers." The proportion of mass drivers to missile racks on smaller vessels tends to be higher, as mass drivers are more compact and can carry deeper magazines. Mass drivers can be loaded with "flak" shells that explode into a cloud of lethal shrapnel intended to shred fighter and bombercraft. Because these shells need relatively little velocity to be effective, rate of fire increases dramatically. Mass drivers are used for pinpoint orbital bombardment. Laser Arrays Union laser arrays are rapid-cycling weapons designed to intercept incoming missile fire and small craft. Laser dispersion makes them impractical for ship-to-ship combat at any serious range, but the propagation speed of the laser itself, their high recycle rate, lack of bulky or dangerous ammunition, and their well-known technology makes them an excellent defensive tool. When, under rare circumstances, combat closes to knife-fighting range, a warship with power to spare will usually lash out with its laser arrays: they're not particularly powerful, but sometimes the difference between success and failure in an engagement rests on a razor's edge. Pirates refer to naval laser arrays as "pill-poppers," due to their frequent use in destroying - or "popping" - pirate escape pods; engaging in piracy in Union space is grounds for an automatic death sentence at a commander's discretion, and few naval commanders are merciful. Autocannons Multi-barreled automatic cannons firing high-velocity streams of shells at literally thousands of rounds per minute, these weapons are archeotech by Union military standards, the know-how in their manufacture being literally over a milennia old. While never seen on governmental warships, they do appear in profusion among pirate and civilian vessels, to provide for offensive considerations and defensive ones respectively. Unimpressive projectile velocity means that these weapons are limited to short or knife-fighting range at best, and hits on necessarily-large magazines can devastate or destroy a vessel outright. The long-destroyed New Havonian navy made heavy use of these weapons, to their detriment. Minelayers A relative of the missile rack, the minelayer is used to deploy "mines," typically to cover retreats, prepare ambushes, or brace for an incoming fleet. These "mines" are actually missiles that lay in wait until they detect enemy warships. When the target closes to sufficient range, the missile goes "live" and moves for the target much as a standard missile does. Unspent mines can later be given a signal from their master ship to scram their brain or ping friendly ships for retrieval and reuse. Mines are extremely difficult to detect when "quiet" save by luck or their activation, and rapid deployment is a fairly simple process. Warships Ares-class dreadnought The Ares-class can be considered representative of the Humanist Union's increasing attention on the greater galaxy. A full-fledged dreadnought, the Ares-class has been designed to engage foreign warships of similar size on their own terms and either win or force a draw. Compared to other ships in the Navy, the Ares is quite expensive and sophisticated, besides being massive. While ungraceful and slow-accelerating, they are tremendously well-armed, armored, and shielded, and equipped with all the technology necessary to coordinate full fleets of warships. While some within the navy question the wisdom of using the largest and most likely to be targeted warships as command vessels, others point out that the Ares' ability to survive and deal out damage more than makes up for any advantage found in using a less conspicuous but more vulnerable warship. Its particularly large quantity of missile racks also allow it to remain in the rear of fleet actions without too severely reducing its contribution to a given battle. The Ares-class features the single-largest siege driver ever built by the Union's naval engineers and can devastate or outright destroy lesser warships with a single direct hit. The weaknesses of the Ares-class lie in its cost and relative immobility; their presence on the battlefield serves to constrain the maneuvering of smaller naval ships in order to avoid leaving the valuable dreadnoughts out of formation. The comparative complexity of the Ares-class and its size make them expensive and slow to construct. Some critics within the military have decried the vessel for this reason and instead suggested production of larger numbers of more conservative capital ships, but the sheer survivability and firepower of the Ares-class make it a valuable anchor in mass fleet actions that is unlikely to be phased out. In Service: 10 Retired: 0 Destroyed:0 Points: 400 Vessels: FNS Ares, FNS Vigilant Revolution-class battleship The Revolution-class was produced in response to criticisms of the older Anya Paterson-class. A deliberately conventional battleship, the Revolution-class is not particularly more massive than the Anya Paterson, but is considerably more durable and more heavily-armed. Designed as an anchor for mass fleet formations that could dish out and absorb heavy firepower, it would free up the Anya Paterson-class to be used in more appropriate flanking and rapid-response roles. By the advent of the Revolution-class, the Humanist Union had worked most of the kinks out of its warship development programs, and so the first ships of this line bear considerable resemblance even to those of today; there has been little room or desire for improvement. One conspicuous difference can be found in modern examples' command and communications gear, which is far more robust than in earlier models. Many fleet commanders initially shunned the Revolution-class as a flagship due to its ponderous nature and tendancy to draw fire, obviating the need for fleet command equipment. This no longer holds true today; most vice admirals in the Federal Navy actually prefer the Revolution-class to the more agile and fragile Anya Paterson. Revolutions sport a mix of mass drivers and missile racks that allow them to perform well in a variety of combat situations, and newer models sport a considerably more powerful siege driver than the early models, whose own was basically indistinguishable from the Anya Paterson's own model. By international standards, the Revolution-class is an unremarkable warship that never chooses the cutting edge where it can choose dependability and familiarity. Despite this, it has acquitted itself well and it is expected that new models will continue to closely resemble those ships that first rolled off the lines decades ago. In Service: 30 Retired: 0 Destroyed: 0 Points: 200 Vessels: FNS Revolution, FNS Proletarian Anya Paterson-class battlecruiser The Anya Paterson-class is, as the saying goes, a product of its times. Developed nearly concurrently with the Broadsword-class, the Anya Paterson is the only other ship in the Humanist Union's warship fleet to predate the state. With the Federal Navy severely depeleted in general and lacking in large warships in particular, the CCP was hard-pressed to maintain its legitimacy among Republican remnant attacks, domestic pirate raids, and even the occasional foreign incursion or independence movement. The answer was the Anya Paterson class, originally classified as a battleship but eventually redesignated a light battleship and finally a battlecruiser. The Anya Paterson class directly reflected the needs of the Federal Navy - it was a heavily-armed warship that could rapidly redeploy and respond to changing battlefield conditions quickly enough to retreat or reposition itself without being destroyed. Envisioned as working alone or with only light support, the Anya Paterson-class sports fairly impressive sensors and point-defense equipment for a battleship, and its firepower was well in excess of what any but the largest remnant warships could bring to bear. It was also designed as a command ship, a role it still serves today; many older fleet admirals have professed preference for the design as a flag ship. Early Anya Paterson-class warships lack the single siege driver that was pioneered on the Broadsword-class, relying instead on six forward-fixed heavy drivers, as typically seen on older republican warships. As the bugs in the siege driver design were worked out, the Anya Paterson hull was adapted to carry an appropriately-sized siege driver of its own, and has since served as a testbed for siege driver research through the decades. The hastily-built and deployed Anya Patersons of the Union's darkest years only bear a passing resemblance to the refined (if still simplistic) killing machines employed by the Federal Navy today. Those hulls of yesteryear have long since been upgraded (if possible) or rendered down for parts. At least one early-production Anya Paterson, siezed by a Republican remnant ambush force, is known to be at large today, though as of 3400 it has not been seen in 7 years. The Anya Paterson-class's greatest weakness can be found in its fairly modest defensive array, one certainly less than common to true battleships. It was this, combined with the emergence of new Federal Navy designs, that saw the Anya Paterson reclassified. Still, despite its decreased apparent importance, the Anya Paterson still serves a vital role in the Union's fleet, and is particularly feared by pirates. In Service: 50 Retired: 0 Destroyed: 0 Points: 160 Vessels: FNS Anya Paterson, FNS Liberator November-class heavy cruiser The November-class heavy cruiser emerged from the Union's naval design labs as political conditions stabilized and the fleet saw increasing need for a design in the sub-battleship range with more offensive power than the aging Broadsword-class. The patriotically-named November-class was designed to fill this perceived gap. Owing most of its heritage to the Broadsword-class, the November-class is not particularly more massive than its parent design and is occasionally mistaken for the lighter warship by laymen. The difference lies in the details. The November-class heavy cruiser, rather than being a jack of all trades, focuses on firepower and defensive robustness at the cost of maneuverability and some degree of accelerative capacity. The November-class was designed to be the cutting edge on cruiser formations, freeing up the navy's battlecruisers and battleships for more vital roles and deployments. It is considered by most to be a successful design, though it is not without its detractors or flaws. The most obvious weakness of the design is in its mobility, which is quite poor for a cruiser; the design has been mocked by some as 'the littlest battleship' for this reason, a moniker that is not entirely inappropriate. The sheer size of its aresenal makes it somewhat cramped, leaving it with a smaller troop complement than the Broadsword-class and somewhat shorter legs on long deployments (though this problem has been addressed in more recent models and upgrades). Early designs carried many light mass drivers and missile racks to the modern design's fewer but larger weapons; this reduces the number of targets a November-class can engage at once, but allows for it to more successfully combat large opponents. Its reactors require frequent and diligent maintenance due to their exceptionally heavy workload. Still, the design's strengths are noteworthy. Its armor belt is notoriously thick, and its reinforced siege driver - though only slightly more powerful than the Broadsword's - can be fired with relatively high frequency. Even modern models can engage a great number of targets at once, owing to the sheer number of weapons and targeting computers the hull features. It readily accepts the command role, something the Broadsword-class is not designed for. The November-class is a frequent commission among the Union's more talented and senior captains. In Service: 105 Retired: 0 Destroyed: 0 Points: 80 Vessels: FNS November, FNS Red Autumn Broadsword-class cruiser When people think of the Federal Navy, they think of the Broadsword-class cruiser. Sturdy, ugly, and surprisingly difficult to kill, the Broadsword-class has a reputation among laymen for embodying the Union's emphasis on simplicity and reliability over comfort and advanced technology. As the first truly new warship designed by the CCP, it is the oldest design in the Union's fleet; only it and the Anya Paterson-class predate the Union itself. Despite its storied reputation, the Broadsword-class has a somewhat checkered past. At the time the Broadsword-class was designed, the CCP, later to become the Humanist Union, was still fragile. Its economy and military were in shambles, and its legitimacy was questionable. The Broadsword's growing pains reflected the CCP's troubles; recently-nationalized shipyards and engineers worked in something far from harmony when ordered to produce an inexpensive cruiser that could be used to bulk up the navy's patrols and deny space lanes to common criminals or foreign interlopers. Early Broadswords were well-known for reactor reliability issues and extremely high mass driver rail wear. Problems in the power distribution system hampered firepower or resulted in equipment failure during combat, and the design's first siege drivers were almost never used due to how little use they saw before overhaul was necessary to prevent catastrophic failure. The Broadsword would survive its woes, however, and many of the hard lessons learned in its manufacture inform the Union's ship design doctrine even today. Indeed, the most emblematic example of this is the siege driver - pre-revolution front-fixed drivers had been much smaller and mounted in groups, as materials science in the republic had not allowed for singular tremendous railguns. Today, all Federal Navy warships of cruiser size or above use single siege drivers, each more efficient than a bank of heavy drivers and each far more practical than the Broadsword's long-ago model. The Broadsword of today is very much a jack of all trades, a warship designed to be adequate in most roles but to excel in none. It continues to be the backbone of navy formations, a reliable, rugged, inexpensive, no-nonsense design likely to be considered indispensable well into the future. In Service: 125 Retired: 0 Destroyed: 0 Points: 60 Vessels: FNS Broadsword, FNS Cossack Raven-class destroyer The Progressive Civil War was cruel to the light ship complements on both sides of the conflicts, leaving them in tatters. With numerous vulnerabilities present in existing designs and the new government seeking a new navy, the Raven-class was commissioned. Based on the successful Broadsword-class, the Raven-class destroyer is quite heavily armed for its size and features sophisticated targeting computers, befitting its role as a fleet screen and light ship hunter. When not serving in larger ship formations, Ravens work alone or with Sparrow-class corvettes in "wolf packs" patrolling particularly dangerous areas of space. In planetary sieges, Raven-class destroyers can be detatched from fleet movements to provide close fire support for ground forces. Quarters on the Raven-class are cramped, a product of its designers squeezing a great deal in a frame much smaller than the Broadsword-class. In Service: 160 Retired: 0 Destroyed: 0 Points: 40 Vessels: FNS Raven, FNS Fury Sparrow-class corvette Developed concurrently with the Raven-class, the Sparrow-class is a prime example of the Union's sensibilities. It is a hull of numerous roles and abilities: scout, fleet screen, pirate interceptor, picket ship, fire support for ground assets, and others. Though certainly not equipped to engage heavy warships, they serve as shepards even in large fleets, swatting down strikeboats and scouting ahead of larger forces, working alongside the Union's destroyers to engage and neutralize other light warships and guarding the vulnerable flanks of heavier vessels. In peacetime, the Union's numerous Sparrows patrol shipping and transit lanes for pirates, smugglers, and foreign interlopers, arresting them or destroying them where appropriate. Where too large a threat presents itself, the Sparrow's impressive acceleration profile and powerful communications array allow it to retreat and call for assistance. Older Sparrow-class hulls are renowned for being excessively cramped even for high-ranking officers; this issue has been alleviated slightly in more modern vessels with better-engineered internal layouts. In Service: 160 Retired: 0 Destroyed: 0 Points: 25 Vessels: FNS Sparrow, FNS Bloodhound Lightbringer-class sloop Though classified initially by the Humanist Union as a corvette, the Lightbringer-class - named in honor of a ship that played a significant symbolic role in the Progressive Revolution - would eventually be redesignated as a sloop due to the considerable differences between its design and accepted examples of corvettes. These new light ships are the Humanist Union's first dedicated recon vessels, featuring advanced stealth equipment absent on older ships used in the scouting role, such as the Sparrow-class. Lightbringers are not intended for serious combat and feature relatively modest weapons and defenses; when engaged in combat, they typically attempt to break contact and withdraw immediately. Quarters on a Lightbringer are spartan but not uncomfortable, befitting its role as a long-term deep-deployment scout. Relatively few examples of the vessel exist and it has yet to see extensive deployment. In Service: 10 Retired: 0 Destroyed: 0 Points: 10 Vessels: FNS Lightbringer, FNS Wanderer Civil Defense Ships Sentinel-class cutter The Sentinel-class is the standard ship employed by the Civil Defense Force across the Union. Though it sports warship-grade weapons and protection, it is smaller than the Sparrow and not meant for extended deployment from a planetary base. Sentinel-class vessels patrol the "waters" of a given planet, keeping trade and transit routes free of pirates and smugglers. Individual Sentinels can easily handle the average slipshod pirate ship, but where resistance is stiff, Sentinels will work in packs or in cooperation with true warships. The Sentinel possesses an impressive acceleration profile but is, like most small warships and small Union-produced ships in particularly, quite cramped. Warhound-class light corvette The Warhound-class can be found in the Civil Defense fleets of more critical systems in the Union, or otherwise in areas particularly prone to crime. Like the Sentinel, it is short-legged but armed and armored competently. Not much smaller than a Sparrow-class vessel, the appearance of a Warhound working in cooperation with other system defense craft is enough to stave off all but the most serious pirate raiders. When cooperating with the Federal Navy, Warhound-class vessels are relegated to duties comperable to the Sparrow-class. Civilian Ships OM-102 "Hummingbird" Shuttle The Hummingbird is the standard intrasystem shuttlecraft of the Humanist Union, both in civil and governmental affairs. Easy to manufacture, sturdy, and simple to repair, these ships fill a myriad of roles for a wide variety of institutions in the Union. The military uses model 105, with slightly better electronics and protection. Hummingbirds can be armed and used as insertion or light strike craft as well; the 105A packs limited firepower to go with the 105's edge in protection. The 105A is typically deployed only in orbit-to-surface military actions, never in fleet engagements. Pirates are not so choosy and will use 105As, sloppily-upgraded 105s, or even civil 102s as raiding and boarding craft. JIS-101/HCI-1S "Mule" An ultralight freighter design dating back decades before the revolution. A product of Janeston Interstellar Shipyards (since nationalized and reformed as Humanist Civil Interstellar), this freighter's typical role is hauling small quantities of goods between sectors. Not all that well-armed or armored, most Mules carry enough defensive measures to stave off light attacks from fighter-scale craft only. Newer models have an updated power distribution system less likely to fail if the central trunk is damaged in an attack. HCI-1Ss often belong to independent operators or small cooperatives, unlike bulk freighters. HCI-1M "Boxcar" So-named for the ship's distinctive cargo section, the HCI-1M is a stereotypical medium freighter, and one of the most common civilian bulk carriers found in the Humanist Union. Boxcars are generally used for shipping between more established settlements, whose consumption and production requires larger shipments and which usually have appropriate spaceport facilities. Like all civilian craft, it is poorly armed and armored, only able to fend off light pirates. The design's bulk makes it a popular choice for refitting with weapons instead of cargo among pirate "fleets" that operate in Union space. Almost all Boxcars operate under the authority of state-owned shipping interests, frequently with crews consisting of individuals enrolled in the union's civil service (an alternative to military service). HCI-2L "Crate" A popular bulk freighter, the slab-like HCI-2L handles the heaviest commerce within Union space; it and ships like it are similarly vital to international trade. Less common on the edges of civilized space, Crates are quite a frequent sight in the Union's core sectors, where their tremendous wealth is safe under the watchful guns of well-organized civil defense assets and the constantly roving navy. Poorly armed and armored, a Crate can fend off light pirate harassers but dedicates the overwhelming majoirty of its hull space to cargo bays. Crates make particularly tempting targets for pirates, not just for their material wealth but for the utility of the ship. A captured Crate can be converted to a variety of roles, from mobile greenhouse to pirate "cruiser." Criminal Ships Pirate Pursuit Ship Usually built on the hulls of Mules or other light civilian craft, the pursuit ship - or "chaser" - is a vessel tasked with running down and locking down vessels travelling in hyperspace, guiding them carefully out at chosen ambush points. Pirate pursuit ships have larger-than-normal hyperdrives, a necessity in wrestling often-larger prey out of hyperspace; sometimes larger vessels are needed for this task nonetheless. Badly armed and protected, pursuit ships have little room for captured cargo, devoting all of their space to their assigned task. Pirate Strikeboat While the Humanist Union navy frowns upon fighter and bombercraft in space engagements, pirates are not so choosy. Pirate strikeboats are typically ungainly fighter/bomber hybrids loaded with as many munitions as the frame can carry. As most pirate ships lack flight decks, they're often deployed from crude "branches" fastened to the docking ports of pirate warships. Naval and civil defense authorities look down upon these vessels, derisively referring to them as "gnats." In the Union, most pirate strikeboats are derived from the Hummingbird shuttle. Pirate Gunship Usually converted Mules or similar vessels, pirate gunships - commonly called "bumblebees" or just "bees" - are ungainly vessels packed with missiles and autocannon, with relatively little cargo space. Such vessels necessarily operate with cargo craft for the purpose of hauling looted goods and salvagable scrap. While uparmored and better-shielded than the typical civilian craft they are built from, they are no match even for a basic military corvette save in large numbers. Their "sting-and-die" nature, combined with their awkward bulk, has earned them their name. Pirate Frigate Built usually on the hulls of medium freighters, pirate "frigates" compare poorly to their built-for-war counterparts in firepower, defensive power, and often size. Far more space efficient than pirate gunships, they can still carry enough loot to support their crew and vessel, save in the most extreme circumstances: pirate frigates that give up everything for guns and armor are usually instead called pirate "destroyers." In keeping with the theme started in the common pirate gunship's nickname, pirate frigates are called "wasps" or "heavy wasps" depending on their "frigate" or "destroyer" status. Pirate Cruiser Fairly uncommon, pirate cruisers are usually built on the hulls of heavy freighters that have been hollowed out to carry weapons, shield generators, and sometimes flight decks for pirate strike craft. Pirate cruisers tend to vary wildly in their space-to-weaponry ratio depending on the original frame and the vessel's history, but none compare to true warships in their class. Still, a pirate cruiser is one of the few vessels criminals can get their hands on that poses a threat to genuine warships. Again in keeping with previously-established themes, pirate cruisers are called "queens" in naval slang, often for their position of honor as pirate fleet flagships. Category:Space Navy Category:Humanist Union